AP Photos Editor selections from the past week in Asia

A Lion Air plane crashed into the Java Sea on Monday, just minutes after taking off from Jakarta, and a massive search effort has found personal items and parts of the plane in the water. Relatives of the 189 people on board have submitted DNA for testing to identify their loved ones.

In other images from the Asia-Pacific region this week, India unveiled a towering bronze statue of key independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat state. The Statue of Unity is one of the tallest in the world, almost 10 stories higher than the Spring Temple Buddha statue in China and nearly twice the height of the Statue of Liberty.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the first formal visit to Beijing by a Japanese leader in nearly seven years, with Chinese President Xi Jinping telling him their two countries of late share “more common interests and concerns.”

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This gallery was curated by Associated Press photo editor Wally Santana in Bangkok.